The Field of Exercise Oncology is Bringing Benefits... Flashcards
Aerobic activity
Cardiovascular conditioning activities, “requires oxygen”
Advice to cancer patients several decades ago
Avoid strenuous/aerobic activity, rest will “heal” the body
Advice to cancer patients now
Exercise is encouraged, actually shown to be beneficial in recovery, prevention, no reoccurance, and no mortality
Exercise experiment in the 1980s
Oncology nurses conducted a study in which some cancer patients underwent aerobic exercise for 10 weeks and some did not (control group)
Findings of the 1980s Exercise Experiment
Not only was exercise safe and feasible during cancer treatment, it was also associated with improvements in weight, body composition, and nausea symptoms. Led to a new field of study called exercise oncology.
American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Rountable Report
In 2010, experts declared that cancer survivors should avoid inactivity
Roundtable report in 2018
Experts met again and expanded role of exercise in cancer prevention, control, and survivorship
Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type (FITT)
Evidence-based prescriptions for exercise suited to specific cancers
American Cancer Society
Recommends people with cancer to exercise at least 150 min/week
Zakim Center and the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic at Mass General
Offer exercise and nutritional consultations to improve quality of life for people with cancer.
2019 Study in Clinical Cancer Research
Studied exercise intervention in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer
Findings of the 2019 Study
Although exercise training didn’t appear to influence cancer cell proliferation, women randomized to exercise experienced changes in gene expression in the tumors they had and women randomized to the control group did not.
** This suggests that exercise may have a direct effect on breast cancer–even when started after diagnosis
Breast Cancer Weight Loss Study (BWEL)
Studied women with breast cancer who were in a health education program alone or combined with a two-year diet and exercise program.
It wants to evaluate the effect of weight loss after diagnosison risk of breast cancer recurrence
Insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1
High levels linked to increased risk of several cancers
What do investigators hope to further home in on the specifics of prescribing exercise for breast and other cancers?
Learning more about the benefits of exercise in its many forms, analyzing its effects on the many subtypes of breast cancer and determining the ideal “dose” of physical activity for individual patients
